I decided to revive this thread because I'm also trying to decide. I liked both schools, which makes it hard to choose
. I have a slight preference for Vandy because of its new curriculum and overall administrative/faculty support of students (everyone seems to be real open and happy when dealing with medical students, something I did not really see at Pitt, but what do I know), but UPMC seemed like an awesome place to do clinical rotations. Wiser is also really nice, but then again, Vandy is building CELA, which is essentially the same thing--a high-tech simulation lab.
Grading is also essentially the same: at Vandy, it's P/F for first year, and H/P/F second year, whereas at Pitt, it's H/P/F first two years.
Not sure how I feel about Pittsburgh versus Nashville. I'm originally from LA, so I probably will like Nashville's milder weather more, but Pittsburgh itself seems like an interesting city to live in, even though it's a less populous city than Nashville (340k vs. 550k).
Even though the person (and not necessarily the school, except maybe for UChicago which has amazing students but still a comparatively low score) makes the Step 1 score, there is some evidence of usefulness in the comparison: Vandy's is between 15-20 pts above national mean, or 232-237, whereas Pitt's is at 227.
So far, like most people said, they seem very similar, and the problem is, I felt just as happy with both when I interviewed. I may just need to flip a coin or wait until finaid
.
Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.